


Abandoned

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Community: sentinel_thurs, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 07:21:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9311360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: A child has been abandoned in an empty house.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday prompt 'locked door'

 

16 locked door

Abandoned

by Bluewolf

Everything that led to outside was locked. The front door, the back door. The windows were either locked or nailed shut.

The child had been alone in the house for two days now. There was some food  in the fridge - some cheese, some cartons of yoghurt, a bottle of milk and a bottle of orange juice. Although he had checked the fridge towards the evening of the first day, he had been reluctant to touch the food, and only drank a little of the milk because he was thirsty - young though he was, he had been well taught that he did not help himself to anything in the fridge. By mid-day of the second day, however, sheer hunger drove him to take one of the cartons of yoghurt. It didn't help his hunger much, but he was beginning to wonder how much longer he would be left locked in here, and he thought he'd be best not to eat everything at once. In any case, when his stepfather came home he would get into trouble if he'd eaten everything in the fridge.

There were cans of things like soup in the pantry, he knew, but he couldn't reach the handle... and even if he could, he wasn't strong enough to use a can opener.

It was beginning to get dark. Eddie drank a little more of the milk, then went to the toilet and from there to his 'bedroom' - a small space under the stairs - and pulled the torn blankets that were his bedding over himself.

Where was Mama? She'd been gone four days. And Papa Ty, gone for two days...

***

When he woke, Eddie went to the toilet then headed for the fridge and drank a little more milk. There wasn't much left. Mama didn't like him drinking juice, but when the milk was finished there would only be the orange juice; he wasn't big enough to reach the kitchen tap to get water.

Wanting something to keep him amused, he wandered into the living room and looked at the television set, but it hadn't been working the previous day so he guessed it wouldn't be working that day either.

Papa Ty hadn't liked him going near the window, punished him any time he did, but how would he know? Eddie knew he would hear the door if it opened, and he would have enough time to get away from the window before Papa Ty could reach the living room.

It was lucky that there was a big box that Papa Ty used to store things in front of the window. Eddie climbed onto it and knelt on it, looking out.

He could see a street. It was fairly quiet - one or two cars, one or two people, all moving from his left to his right... A woman left the house opposite, walked down her path and as she began to walk around her car, she looked straight at the window.

Eddie couldn't understand the strange look on her face when she saw him; then she waved, and he waved back. She got into her car and drove off.

But then everything went quiet again. He peered sideways in both directions, the best he could, but nobody seemed to be moving. After a few minutes he climbed back down - there was nothing in an empty street to keep him amused and safer for him to move away from the window again.

He went back to his small space under the stairs, and curled up there, wondering why Mama had gone away, even why Papa Ty had left.

Certainly he was happier without Papa Ty there. Papa Ty was angry with him pretty well all the time, and Mama hadn't done anything to help him when Papa Ty hit him - hard - with a belt.

He drifted back into sleep.

***

There was a noise at the door, and he peered round the corner of the stairs. Yes - it was opening. But the woman who stood there was a stranger. She stepped into the hallway, and after a short pause a man followed her. A big man, bigger even than Papa Ty, who was much, much bigger than Mama. And then the two strangers exchanged a few words before they headed straight for him.

The woman dropped to her knees in front of him. "Hello. My name's Megan. What's your name?" Her voice was very gentle.

He shrank back a little. "Eddie," he whispered.

"How long have you been here on your own, Eddie?"

"All day yesterday and the day before."

"Have you had anything to eat or drink?"

He shrank back even further.

"It's all right, I'm not going to hurt you. Have you had anything to eat?"

"I... I took some milk and yog-urt out of the fridge. Not much - Papa Ty doesn't like it if I take anything without asking, but he wasn't there for me to ask, and I was really thirsty."

"What about your Mom?"

"I don't know where she is. She went away... before Papa Ty did."

Megan glanced at the big man then said, "All right, Eddie. Now I want you to come with us. We'll take you somewhere safe where you can get something to eat and maybe one or two other children to play with."

"Papa Ty - I don't think he likes me but he'll be angry if I go outside unless he says I can. And he hasn't ever said I can."

The door opened again and another, smaller, man entered. "Mrs. King didn't know there was a kid here until she saw him at the window this morning," he said. "The guy that owns the house is called Mellex - she doesn't know a first name. She saw him going out a couple of days ago, hasn't seen him since. There's been a woman staying here for the last month, but Mrs. King hasn't seen her since Friday."

"I'd guess Eddie's her son," Megan said. "Mellex was probably her boy friend, but... " She turned her attention back to Eddie. "Eddie - what's your second name?"

"Crowe," he whispered.

"All right, Eddie - you don't have to worry about Papa Ty - if he says anything he'll have us to deal with, and I promise you he won't argue with us. Now - is there anything here you want to take with you?"

"Take?"

"You won't be coming back here."

"But Mama... She'll look for me here."

"We'll leave a message for her, to let her know we have you."

"Oh. There's my bag... " He pointed to where it lay in the small space at the bottom of the stairs.

"Any toys?"

"Papa Ty threw them out, just a day or two after Mama came here with me. He said I was making too much noise when I was playing."

Megan reached over and collected the bag. The smaller man moved forward and held out his hand. Eddie hesitated, then reached up and took the offered hand. The man led him out and waved with his free hand to the woman sitting in the car on the opposite side of the road. She waved back, and watched as Eddie was lifted into the cab of a truck. The man followed him in and pulled the boy onto his lap. Megan followed, putting the bag at her feet; and lastly the big man left the house, pulled the door shut, tested it to make sure it was locked then climbed into the driver's seat.

"Eddie," Megan said. "The man you're using as a cushion is Blair. The big man driving is Jim. We'll make sure you're all right."

Jim started the engine and the truck began moving slowly down the street. Blair waved again to the woman in the car, and then the truck picked up speed. It slowed as they reached another street, Jim checked that the way was clear and drove onto it.

It was busier than the street running past where he had lived, Eddie realized.

"Why?" he asked. Papa Ty hadn't encouraged questions but these people seemed nice.

"Well... you're a little too young to look after yourself," Blair said. He grinned. "I know, you can manage fine when your Mama is there - but she's gone away somewhere and we don't know where. Do you know where she might be?"

Eddie shook his head.

"I usually knew where my Mom had gone, any time she went away when I was your age," Blair said, "and how long she'd be away. Your Mama didn't tell you?"

"No." He sniffed. "She never went away and left me before."

Jim pulled the truck into a space in front of a big building. He and Megan jumped out; Blair lifted Eddie into Jim's arms and joined them. Jim carried Eddie as they went into the building and crossed to a desk. The woman behind the desk smiled at them.

"Hello," she said.

"We have an appointment with Ms. Lessing," Megan said. "Megan Connor."

The receptionist glanced at a list. "Right, Inspector. Second floor, room 206."

When they reached room 206, the door was standing open and an elderly woman waited in the doorway. "Hello, Inspector. Come in!"

Inside, with everyone seated, she carried on. "And this is Eddie?"

"Yes."

Ms. Lessing looked at him. "Hello, Eddie. Inspector Connor tells me that you were left on your own for at least two days?"

"It's all right, Eddie. Ms Lessing is here to help you," Blair said softly.

Eddie looked at her and nodded. "Mama went away first but then Papa Ty went out too and didn't come back."

Things moved fast after that, and almost before he had time to wonder what was happening, Eddie found himself with another woman who took his bag and led him away. He tried to tug back, but Blair waved reassuringly. "We'll see you later, Eddie - right now we're going to see if we can find your Mama."

***

Though just where they were going to start looking, none of them was sure.

They went back to the house to check it out in a way that hadn't been  possible with the child there, but everything seemed all right; though Blair muttered a few harsh words when he got another chance to see the small space where Eddie had slept.

Jim had already left a note in the kitchen, telling whoever returned to the house to contact the PD about Eddie - when, if, they did they'd be slapped with a charge of child neglect, but there was no point in saying so.

***

Within minutes of returning to the PD, Jim and Blair found themselves involved in a murder case - a man found stabbed in a back alley.

"He's been dead at least two days," Serena told them.

"Any identification on him?" Jim asked, knowing that if robbery was the motive, there was unlikely to be any.

"Actually, yes," Serena said. "This had to be a personal attack; his wallet is here." Jim pulled on latex gloves, took it and opened it.

"Tyrone Mellex," he said.

Blair hissed. "Now we know why 'Papa Ty' didn't go home," he said.

"There's still the question... Serena, you don't happen to know if there's an unidentified woman in the morgue?" Jim asked.

She shook her head. "No. I mean, no, there isn't one."

Blair glanced at him. "You think that Mellex killed his girl friend? But Eddie said Mellex didn't like him."

"That wouldn't stop him selling the kid to a pedophile," Jim muttered.

They looked at each other. "Well, we'll go on trying to find her," Jim said, "but my guess is that Mellex killed her to get the kid and hid her body."

"I see a lot of myself as a child in him," Blair said. "But at least Naomi never stayed with a man like Mellex; and Eddie is safe now."

 


End file.
